How Can Video Games Enhance Learning? | Video Games

Video games have become a way of life. There is not a single person who has not played a game or been hooked on to some games while growing up or even after growing up. However it is also very common for most parents around the world to try to keep their children away from games with a fear that the kids will get addicted to them and that will affect their growth and stability. Even adults and teenagers are discouraged from playing games as it is considered to be a waste of time and a non value adding activity. However current studies prove that all that we have known and believed about video games is very different from reality. Contrary to beliefs that video games do not add value to the person who plays them, research now says that they in fact enhance learning abilities. In this article we have put together details on how games help us learnAbility to understandWhen one plays a video-game, one tends to don the role of the character in the video game. It can be any role depending on the game, from a chef to a detective to an investment banker. These roles that an individual assumes, ensures that the players get to think, talk and act. They get a sneak preview into the other roles or different life styles. A player playing Lineage gets to don the role of an international financier and gets to trade raw materials, sell and buy different goods and speculate on currencies. This is something that requires the player to think and a role that the player should handle with care. Thus this helps the person playing a game understand the situation and act accordingly. This rich experience makes a powerful context for learning. Thus individuals playing video games develop the capability to understand and act and think according to situation which is a great learning.Learn by DoingVideo games allow its users to learn by doing rather than just learning. The kind of activities and tasks that one has to perform in games, the kind of strategies that one has to come up with in games forces the user to think and develop his knowledge. The users cannot just play with out having an idea of the situation. The players gain rich and varied expertise by the roles that they don in different games. For example in the game called Fill Spectrum Warrior, the player is expected to understand the military doctrine and has to build knowledge of the weapons, equipments and environments of the game to succeed in the game. Depending on the game, the player has to implement his learning’s in the game in order to win the game. Thus video games help gamers all over the world to learn by doing and also creates and eagerness in them to learn new things.Given that computers and technology are a major part of our lives these days, the fact that playing video games helps enhance our learning abilities is indeed a breather for video game enthusiasts every where.